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tv   Americas Newsroom  FOX News  January 14, 2013 6:00am-8:00am PST

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join for fre and expect amazing. because it works. bill: let's kick off a whole new week on a monday and a fox news alert. president obama set to push through new legislation on another controversial issue setting his sights on immigration reform. said to be getting ready to announce a single sweeping bill that could legalize the country's 11 million illegal immigrants. we'll see how this goes. welcome to the blue show here live at in "america's newsroom". martha: we're not blue. i'm martha maccallum. so republicans not against immigration reform as we know but pushing more of a step by step earned approach on all of this. the president wants the big comprehensive picture to get a lot done all at once. bill: it is the next battle. steve hayes, senior writer, "weekly standard." fox news contributor. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: from what we know what would this law look like?
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>> the president's law would emphasize a path to citizenship. to try to get people living in the shadows a clear and clean path for citizenship and do so in one comprehensive bill as you and martha suggest. the republican plan put forward by marco rubio or will be put forward by marco rubio would take a slower approach. emphasize high-skilled legal immigration and make immigrants, illegal immigrants earn citizenship in a way the president's wouldn't. bill: can this pass based on the current composition of the house or the senate? will it? >> no. the president's plan won't pass the house of representatives the way it is presented. it will be a back and forth. a lot of pushing and pulling with house republicans in particular looking for more enforcement mechanisms, looking for more emphasis on high-skilled immigration, things of that nature. i think you will still have a number of restrictionists in the house republican conference who don't want to pass citizenship at all. bill: if it does, and this
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becomes law, how do republicans, the minority party, get its fingerprints on the law and claim credit for part of it? >> well this is what is interesting. we've seen the president i think rather skillfully seek to divide republicans on a variety of issues. i think this is the next one he will attempt to do this on. it is one of the reasons we've had somebody like marco rubio come out at least offer the framework of a plan that republicans potentially can get behind. rubio's plan is something sort of strayed up the middle. it is not as permissive and open as the president's plan but neither is it as restrictionist as some republicans would probably like. bill: thank you very much. stephen hayes is watching that story. the key you mentioned there in the rubio plan is the earned citizenship. we'll follow that theme. thank you, steve. good to see you on a monday. stephen hayes in washington. mart. martha: the debate on immigration will get going as soon as the white house is working on its new gun control laws which is front and center this week.
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the vice president meets with house members this morning after talking to the nra, other groups, the media, all that happened over the course of last week, as you know. mr. biden is expected to make his recommendations to the president as early as tomorrow. kelly wright is on this for us this morning live in washington. what can we expect tomorrow, kelly? >> reporter: the vice president is expected to propose tighter controls on sought weapons as well as high-capacity magazines that hold 30 rounds or more plus universal background checks. senator joe manchin a lifelong member of the nra is open to such a plan and would like to see more. >> i would like to hear from them why you need a larger magazine. you can't push the nra and law-abiding gun owners, you have have them at the table. what are their preference protecting that. >> reporter: nra has made it clear it is not in favor of any ban on assault weapons.
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so the up tense battle on both sides will likely continue, martha. martha: what are we seeing from the nra as what they think will happen on the president's plan to curb gun violence? what are they proposing? what would they give? >> reporter: good question. the nra believes the president will not have enough support in congress to support any type of ban on assault weapons or even high-capacity magazines for that matter. the nra, martha, believes the root of the problem is mental illness. therefore it is pushing for a measure to keep guns out of the hands of those who have been adjudicated as people with mental illness problems. >> i think it is a false security to think that somehow we're going to spot problems when there is really know way to spot these problems. some of the most horrendous of the mass murders that occurred recently including the one in newtown would not have been stopped by a background check. the gun is stolen. the person has no prior criminal record. >> reporter: martha, let's keep in mind what happened in newtown, that tragedy
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that shocked us all that happened exactly one month ago, the president promises to use the full extent of his power to put something in place that will address gun violence in america. meaning, martha, he could possibly use an executive order to implement some tougher measures. martha: it has been suggested he might do just that. kelly, thank you very much. kelly wright in d.c.. >> reporter: sure. bill: we'll talk later this morning, to eric pratt, direct are to have communication for the gun owners of america. find out what he thinks about the president's proposal. martha: the debate on gun legislation playing out at gun he is show. people on both side making their voices heard at a popular show in upstate new york. the fallout from the sandy hook shootings indeed sparked a lot of mixed emotions on this issue. take a look. >> this was an opportunity for us to stand up against gun violence. >> i have two small children. i sympathize what happened there, unfortunately a lot of times when you have a
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tragedy like that you have an emotional reactionary response. >> they're trying to make the zare towing council aware, the city council, that they bring a lot of money into this town and they're saying if you don't want us we can find someplace else to go. martha: quite a scene. extra police were brought on to keep the peace in that situation in upstate new york. bill: martha, there are new concerns that your health insurance premiums are about to go through the roof. for some of the rates could double? it is all because of a key provision in the president's health care law and stuart varney is on that, host of "varney & company" on the fox business network. what is the story? premiums going higher, stuart? >> yeah, a lot higher and it is because of obamacare which takes full effect next year, one year from now. three items within obamacare pushing health premiums much, much higher. number one, everyone who applies for health insurance must be covered. can't refuse anybody.
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number two, you can not be charged more, no matter what illness you walk in the door with. number three, all coverage must include all kinds of coverage that the government mandates. add up all of those three, nothing is free and the cost of health insurance is going through the roof. i quote "the wall street journal" which cites a consulting firm, a legitimate leading consulting firm that says for you as an individual, the average premium increase will be 50%. very significant increases through large employers and small businesses as well. through the roof is the right expression, bill. bill: five, 0, not 1, 5. >> yes. bill: the president said the cost of health insurance would go down? >> that's correct. bill: how does that work? >> he repeatedly said in the run-up to obamacare a family by the end of his first term will be paying $2500 less for health insurance. it has gone the exact other way. health insurance for the average family, typical
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family, is up $3,000. so it just simply has not worked out. health insurance costs are going straight up. bill: at the state level they're trying to make up for costs somewhere. what are they trying to pay for? >> well it is these mandates, that's what it is. the federal government is coming in, under obamacare and saying, you get any kind of health insurance and that insurance must cover this and this, and this, and this. there's a long list of what are called mandates. they have to be paid for. therefore the cost is going up. bill: why wasn't thised no the bill? or was it and we just did not see? >> i don't think we saw it and didn't understand exactly what would happen. we were always promised that obamacare would lower the cost of health care. clearly it has not. bill: this will be a big story starting off the second term, at least for the first 12 months and then we'll see full implementation in 2014. >> throughout this year, bill, you will see health insurance premiums either for you as an individual or through your employer to go
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up. that will be a story we'll follow all the way through. bill: wasn't supposed to be that way. see you in 15 minutes, fbn 9:20 eastern time. martha. martha: we have a jam-packed show for you today. thousands of people lining up at a boston health:ic. what do you think they wanted? let me wonder, why they were turned away. bill: wow good news for former president for g h.w. bush, number 41. we'll tell you what that is all about. martha: a major city with some of the toughest gun laws in the whole country and the highest murder rates. so what is going on there? we'll be back. more in "america's newsroom" straight ahead.
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martha: all right. we've got a weather alert for you. one tennessee town is dealing with heavy flooding after days of rain. this video comes in from whiteville, near memphis. sections of a major road are washed away with five feet of water in some spots.
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more than 50 people are currently trapped in their homes there as rescue efforts are underway. it is so bad that local and state police can not even get in there to set up road closure signs. >> this water is moving so swiftly, could very easily overturn a car, take a car off the roadway, just too dangerous. this is probably about the worst i've seen it flood. it is always been where we could get something in but it's completely washed out now. martha: well the city just landed a 400,000 grant to build a new bridge. it would raise the entire street by four feet. that doesn't come in time to help this situation though, and hopefully it will help in the future. bill: well a grim picture in the showdown over the debt ceiling about to get a bit more dismal. the white house has no plan b in the debt fight, challenging republicans to allow them to bore row more money or allow the country to default on its loans.
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16 trillion in debt. getting higher by the clock. senator mike lee has a vote on this from utah. thank you for coming here. no backup plan according to the white house. in addition the treasury department says there is no plan b. what do you think about that? >> well, that's a problem. too often in washington we're faced between kind of a false choice. we're presented with a choice that says, okay, you either take no cuts at all and raise the debt limit, or you raise the debt limit with the promise of kits that may never transpire and that kind of cut simply won't cut it anymore. hard-working americans deserve better than this and all the programs they rely on are placed in jeopardy by reflexively raising the debt limit without putting in place permanent structural reform. bill: what do you think will happen? sometime about mid-february we start to see you guess something develop. what is your best guess? >> one of the things we will see happening is that people on the other side of this,
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those who want us to just raise the debt limit as if we were votings on a motherhood appreciation resolution will tell us if we don't raise its or don't raise it immediately or raise it only on the basis of permanent structural spending reform that will somehow amount to a default. we have to remember that this is not true. if we fail to raise the debt limit. it will bring about some problems t would bring about a significant short fall in revenue for the government but that is different than a default. a default is what happens if we don't pay the interest as it accrues on our national debt. that is not going to happen. which have more than enough revenue each month to cover that sum. bill: the politics of this could be damaging. you know the white house will blame the republicans. i don't know if you saw "politico" earlier today but suggesting that the house republicans are entertaining the idea to allow default or shutting down the government. what do you think about that? >> well, again, we have to distinguish between default,
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which is what happens if we don't pay the interest on our national debt as it accrues and failing to raise the debt limit. the latter simply means that we would have to spend 60 or 70 cents on the dollar of what we're doing right now. now, again, that could cause some real problems. but that is very different than a default. and, we've got to shy away from that kind of hyperbolic language so we don't confuse the american voters that we're runing into a default when we're not. bill: talking about this too invites confusion in itself and i guess the fear from the republicans side is not to take the brunt of the blame here. if the story is accurate that half of the members in the republican house are willing to prepare to allow default according to this report. i don't know if it's true or not but that is what is being printed but how do you make sure that you get, you get the right answers so that republicans don't take the fall? >> well i think the way we
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get there is to come up with a real meaningful alternative, something like the cut, cap, balance approach that introduced in the senate in the summer of 2011. and what that means is, that we say, okay, we acknowledge the need to raise the debt limit but we're not going to raise it without putting in place some kind of a permanent structural spending reform because these simple cuts, these cuts that promise to transpire but never in fact do, are not going to do the job anymore. and we're going to face another credit rating downgrade, i fear, if we just raise it reflexively again without changing the way washington spends money and more importantly the way washington borrows money. bill: have you been following what happened in california and governor jerry brown? they raised a lot of taxes and a lot of stories are moving in california moving from deep in the ready to in the black and coming at a high price in california. is it likely democrats will sell the story, that spending is not,er so,
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spending cuts are not the way to go, raising more revenue, more taxes is? >> oh, look i'm certain that is coming. there is no question in my mind that is coming but i can also assure you, bill, what is coming from the other side in the long run that hurts economic growth. in the long run that will bring about less revenue rather than more. what you're doing there you're taking money away from job creators. ultimately you will kill jobs that will bring about less revenue and everyone hurts as a result of that. it is not just those at the top end of the economic scale. it is those along every end of the spectrum and especially those who are hard-working americans living paycheck it paycheck. that is who those tax increases really hurt. in the end the government loses as well. bill: senator, thank you for your time because as we're asking these questions and trying to get answers we have i can wering -- breaking news that will provide more answers. thank you, mike lee. martha: that may be the case. we're learning president obama will hold his first
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news conference of his second term, certainly of the new year, 2013, that will happen 11:15 this morning in the east room. it is an open press event. perhaps the reason for this is his push on immigration. we may hear some of that at the top of this news conference what he hopes to accomplish there in terms of comprehensive immigration reform. no doubt there will be questions though about the debt ceiling and how the president expects to make up those revenues, whether he will try to do that to increase taxes one form or another. there will be a lot of questions this morning perhaps on afghanistan as well. that comes up 1:15 this morning and that comes up here on fox news. bill: you wonder if his answers parallel with what senator lee was talking about or whether they go in an entirely different direction. that is where the battle lines draw on this new term. martha: correction. this will be the last press conference of the last term because the inauguration is coming up. bill: duly noted. a week from today, "america's newsroom" will be in washington on inaugural
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day. white house wants to raise taxes not cut them. we mentioned that with senator lee. states, some of them are starting to take charge. how some of you are looking to cut your taxes and you can thank your governor. martha: this is familiar scene, right? bill: oh, yeah. martha: people packing clinics. the flu vaccine is running frightening low out there. dr. siegel is next. he will tell us what you can do to get your hands on this
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bill: we are just getting word of bird strikes forcing two jets to return to new york's jfk over the weekend. the faa says both incidents involved jetblue and both happened shortly after takeoff. on saturday a flight bound for the dominican republic return after hitting a flock. yesterday a flight bound for the bahamas hit some birds.
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passengers resumed their trip on different planes but more incidents. martha: well, long lines and vaccine shortages are reported across the country as panicked americans flood into flu clinics as this deadly outbreak continues to spread. in boston where officials delayed -- declared a public health emergency, some people waited two hours in line to get a health shot. look at this. more than 6,000 people got vaccinated at free clinics. the centers for disease control says the flu shot is 62% effective. that is a little down from what they said originally. dr. marc siegel, member of fox news medical a-team and significant part of it and with the nyu langone medical center. >> good morning, martha. martha: what will we do about this? what about the vaccines and how many are out there and what should they do to get one? >> first of all, vaccine is pet effective, 62% study
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done in the middle flu season which no one else does they is you did it help you i think it work better than 62% for severe cases. if you have it and get the flu you're less leakly to get it. which is pretty good thing to have. the centers for disease control looks at the year before. last year 48% of the americans should take the shot which was about 128 million actually took it. so that is how come we have 135 million dose this is year. they predict. last few years were mild, martha. so people didn't take the shot. here we are on television saying go take your shot and using fear, we're using fear to motivate people. martha: how can people find a shot if trouble? >> here is what i want to say for sure. even though we're having a shortage. some distributors still have it. some doctors still have it like myself. some pharmacies still have it. you have to be creative and enventiv and make phone calls. your doctor might not have it but a clinic might.
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call a pharmacy chain talking about another pharmacy, must be willing to travel. i went on on long island to find them. in new york city they didn't have them. you have to be inventive. this is the week to do it. i have a feeling after this week there will be a real severe shortage. martha: really quick, a sort of couple of things you can do to build your immune system you like. natural things you can do, what are they? >> first of all you can sleep at night. you can exercise properly. i'm a big believer that you can fight off infections by being healthy around that period of time. i've done a lot of reading about vitamin-d. vitamin-d is studied and definitely involved with fighting off flu and colds. if you get sick, getting sick with a flu or cold helps you get better faster. martha: all right. >> there are a couple other things like ginseng tea and berry tea that have been studied over the years. not as good as tamiflu if you're really sick. martha: thank you very much, doctor. i have a feeling we'll he
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can check in with you on a regular basis. you can find the flu shot out there. >> thank you. martha: thank you. bill: the vice president is set to make his recommendations on new gun control laws on what happened in connecticut. we'll look what is being done in the city of chicago, the spot with some of the strictest laws in the country, yet the highest murder rate. we'll ask the reverend jesse jackson what he thinks about that. of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant
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we're learning president obama will hold a news conference, his last news conference we expect of his first term. and that will happen at 1115 in the east room today. we can confirm he will begin this news conference by speaking about the debt limit and other topics no doubt will be coming up as well. we expect gun control will be an issue asked about. as immigration is also likely to be asked about. 11:15. watch that here on fox news channel as we continue to talk about everything that may be coming out once they get to the qa and part of that news conference. bill: one of the questions will certainly be on guns. as vice president joe biden begins to meet with members of congress on that topic today in fact. members around the country are working on chicago for example. mayor of chicago rahm emanuel. the irony chicago has one of
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the highest amount of gun laws in the u.s. and has highest murder rate. what do leaders expect from the white house on gun, steve. >> reporter: short what they would like to see is more restrictions. overnight in chicago sadly becoming a common tale. another gun homicide on the city's westside. this on a city saw 500 plus murders. obviously this is a subject which dom it. >>ed public discussion for quite some time especially recently. reverend jesse jackson was taping his weekly radio show. the topic was gun violence. with regard to president's discussion about gun controls he says the discussion should be happening here. >> we wrote a letter to president obama and one to joe biden because we want them to come to chicago with the commission. >> reporter: as you point out, bill, this state does
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have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the land, including a rosely federal appeals court knocked down a law against concealed carry, the only state in the nation that has that, bill. bill: mayor emmanuel is taking his case to washington. what can you tell us about that, steve? >> reporter: he will be looking for more gun restrictions. keep in mind he was a senior advisor to president clinton in 1994 when gun restrictions were passed by that congress at that particular time. the reason why he is doing so on the federal level because on the state level, his own state legislature dom it. >>ed by fellow democrats took a pass on a potential piece of legislation we have mate i had more difficult to get ahold of military-style assault weapons. what is interesting that is former state legislator, a current sheriff of cook county said those do not work quite as well as stiffening penalties of use of guns in violence. have a listen.
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>> what i be a large proponent of the federal government taking on more of these gun cases where the bad guys? i would love it because it petrifies them, absolutely petrifies them. >> reporter: this is something that the administration could do without congress. could make it a greater priority of the justice system to go after these kinds of crimes. prioritize it more. tom says that is something he would welcome. bill: we'll hear more about it in an hour and a half. steve brown in chicago. martha has more. >> reverend jesse jackson says gun violence as you just heard is a national security issue. civil rights act activist a founder of rainbow/p.u.s.h. coalition and good to have you here this morning. >> good morning. martha: the big issue here that chicago has a high rate of homicides, more than 500 last year. they simultaneously have
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some of the toughest gun laws of the nation. how do you justify those two things? they don't appear to be working? >> 506 people were murdered. 175 under age 18. in chicago it is not just guns, it is in the context of guns, drugs, and poverty and race. it is dismissed for too long. there are no gun shops in chicago but they make guns in the suburbs. they make guns in rock island. so chicago is a target market for gun sales manufacturers and drugs come in from across the border. drug cartels are there. drugs and guns and jobs are out. that is deadly cocktail. martha: indeed it is but raises this question about federal gun laws and whether or not changing them at the national level is the right way to go because every community you point out is unique. you're talking about an urban issue, gun emergency
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some would say in chicago, homicide emergency and you have totally different issues in north dakota and different places across the country. one size fits all remedy the right way to go? >> well, first of all, the minimal background checks should be nationalized. the background checks should be nationalized, of the gun shows, there is no background check whatsoever. the amount of clips used, bullets in a magazine should be dealt with, nationally. and of course semiautomatic assault weapons. hunters, you want a gun to hunt with and registered you got that. a gun to protect that, you got that. you're more likely to end up with a shooting a relative and suicide than a robber. gun in your house, you got that. these sum automatic weapons, these assault weapons can only kill people and they're a threat to national security. i went to the one man that killing in aurora, colorado,
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the arsenal he had. he was near the runway near denver. he could shoot down airplanes. that is matter of homeland security as well. martha: seems the problems are so different. you look at mentally deranged young person who plots in the basement of his home to murder innocent people, right? that is one sort of situation we're dealing with here that everybody wants to find some way to get their arms around it and try to fix. then you have have an urban issue of homicide situation that is completely different and is clearly not being remedied, i would just point out again, by the very strict gun laws that are in effect in chicago. people look around say, more gun laws, that will not make a difference. chicago has tremendous numbers of restrictions locking your gun and all of that and it is not working. >> but the assault weapons are being, are coming. we know where the gun shops are in the suburbs. if you were in iraq today and we had soldiers there and you knew where guns were
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being manufactured and trail, we would stop that trail of gun flow because they kill our soldiers. we know where guns are manufactured. we know where they're sold. we know where illegal guns become purchase guns. they will not stop that. martha: what is solution for that, reverend? is it stiffer penaltis? is it longer jail time? what is it? what is the penalty, or what is the remedy for what you're talking about. >> the remedy make manufacturers more accountable for their product. cigarette manufacturers are more accountable for their product. what function does assault weapons hold except it kill people? hunters shoot rabbit and deer not with these weapons so what is their function? they shot a ak-47 in the white house last year, 800 yards and the bullet careened off the window of the white house. none of us are safe. nobody is safe with these weapons on the street.
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martha: i completely understand what you're saying there is so much to address, but specifically if you could address this. what do you say to those gun advocates across the country look obviously more rules bus not help the problem? if it did, chicago would be the safest city in the nation because they have the toughest rules in the nation. what do you say to them? >> more guns make us less safe, not more safe. the idea of bringing more guns in schools for teachers, guns beget guns, teachers have them, some may have mental and emotional challenges as well. you bring them in and bring guns into ballgames and churches. at what point do we stop? in chicago, 500 killed. 32,000 are killed a year, americans. 100,000 injured that don't die. aurora, colorado, is not chicago. nor is a shopping center in arizona. martha: states and local enties handle this problem rather than a national law because people say aurora is
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a completely different situation than chicago. one last thought. >> if you go today to get a traffic ticket, if you got one in seattle or miami there is a universal check on driver's license violations. mental background checks, gun background checks. felons should not have these guns. those who have record shouldn't have guns. some things are personal and some things are particular. meantime let's get the assault weapons off your streets. we're waiting for another tragedy to happen unless we do. martha: reverend jackson, very complex issue. thank you so much for being with us today, sir. good to see you as always. >> thank you. bill: all the talk about new gun laws sending firearms flying off the shelves all across the country. a live report on what some consider panic buy. did you see that line? wow!. martha: straight ahead, how about this? states are looking to cut taxes because washington does not seem to want to do that. is your state on the list where they want to cut taxes
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to offset what is happening in washington? bill and i will be right back.
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comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. call hearusa at ... and start loving life again, today. ♪ . martha: baby, baby, baby. this family is looking forward to this summer. they had a big summer last year with the olympics. another big summer. they announced kate middleton and prince william baby is due in july. they said her health is improving after a bought of severe morning sickness last month that put her in the hospital. the couple will keep a low profile for the foreseeable future. don't look to see them out and about. bill: talking about the portrait that came out. martha: that is unfortunate. bill: uncle sam might be stuck overhauling the federal tax system, but some states if you're lucky
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enough are taking up the slack for you. various tax proposals are taking shape that could cut taxes in a big way. matt mccall, penn financial group. steve moore, "wall street journal.". good morning. love having you on. we can talk about what the government is doing with he have too. talk about what the markets are doing with matt. stephen moore, tell me, bobby jindal in louisiana, what his idea is, that is helping to drive this headline today? >> well, bill, he wants to make louisiana one of those, join the ranks of those nine states across the united states that don't have an income tax. those are states like texas and florida and tennessee and new hampshire and washington, navy. they're doing develop economically much better. art laffer who you have on the show a lot and we do a study, called rich states, poor states we find significant growth in those that don't have income taxes.
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texas isp booming. florida is doing well, tennessee. louisiana wants to join the states to get more job and higher income jobs. bill: bobby jindal wants to get in on the action? >> yeah. bill: what is the effect when states cut taxes like that, from a financial perspective. >> from a financial perspective it is great. art laffer does a lot of studies that show it does well for the states. when you cut personal and corporate tax you have incentive for corporations to come into the state. if more corporations are coming into the state, that means more jobs, that mines higher employment. people are spending more money and make up for the lack of income tax, sales tax will go up. if spending more money, the state actually brings in more revenue. roundabout way this comes down to, the states will have more money to spend on a lot of programs to spur on growth even more. there is trickle down effect. bill: we're talking about louisiana. we put up states that already have it under law. plans in north carolina underway, oklahoma, kansas,
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is trying this as well. here are the highest tax rates, hawaii, at 11%. california not too far behind at 10.3. >> bill? bill: iowa and followed by new jersey. i'll let you answer that, but steve, this is what i want to talk about. >> okay. bill: all the stories popping up over the weekend hailing what jerry brown is doing in california. all the taxes are going up in california and they say they're moving from the red to the black but at what cost? you think about how these stories work now. jerry brown starts to get attention and credit despite the cost to the people that live there. and washington takes that idea and says, this is what you need to do. don't cut spending, just raise taxes. did you see that? >> okay. so, bill a couple things about that. let me correct you on one number you just gave. you gave the number for income tax last year in california. bill: it is higher? >> they just raised their income tax to 13.3%.
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bill: hot dog. sorry, man. >> california is highest in the country. bill: 13%. that goes right to the point what governor brown is doing. >> here's the point. i talk to a lot of budget experts in california. they think jerry brown is cooking the books. that california is nowhere near balancing the budget. they have had multibillion-dollar deficits in the past. what i like to do, some of my friends who don't believe taxes matter including the guy in the white house, i say if you don't think taxes matter and affect behavior, explain to me, bill, why it is there has been about 500,000 new jobs over the last 10 years created in texas with no income tax and where california lost about 500,000 jobs? there is lot of factors but i think taxes are one of them. bill: 13% for california. if that is the case they leapfrogged hawaii. matt, give you the last point. if bobby jindal gets his way do folks in louisiana have a better chance at tracking jobs? >> absolutely yes. look at call to, what jerry
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brown is doing is short-term fix. bringing money by increasing taxes but the long-term effect jobs will leave, people will leave and hurt the economy long term. bill: matt, thank you. steve moore, thank you as well. e-mail is hemmer@foxnews.com. viewers on home on twitter that follow me, @billhemmer, file your one word, not one word, one line. martha: one word is all you get? bill: that would be brief. because you asked, bya just need one question. fire it up and let us know what is happening in your state. martha: okay. we are following major developments right now in the fight against al qaeda. the latest on u.s. involvement in a brand new front in the war on terror that is becoming a big story today. details ahead. bill: an update on the health of former president george h.w. bush. good news here. [ laughing ]
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bill: two months he was in the hospital. former president george h.w. bush heading home. former florida governor, his sown, jeb bush, says the father could be discharged as early as today and we certainly hope that is the case. he is 88 years young. been hospitalized in houston since november with a bronchitis-related cough. get better. come on home. nice. martha: wish him well fa. >> we want to assure you we have no intention of being edgy or offensive, because as ricky learned the hard way, when you run afoul of the foreign press they make you host this show two more times. martha: a lot of funny stuff. they were very good, amy poler and tina fey. there was a surprise guest. former president clinton showing up to present some of the nominees. >> president lincoln's struggle to abolish slavery
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reminds us progguess is in cauldron of both principle and compromise. this brilliant film shows us how he did it and gives us hope we can do it again. in lincoln we see a man more interesting than the legend and a far better guide for future president. >> the idea of clinton's appearance reportedly came from steven spielberg's camp. he is a friend of the former president. amy poehler came out shocked at the surprise guest. that was hillary clinton's husband. bill: that was bill rodham clinton. right under the radar. standing ovation which was a huge shock. martha: a big night for ben affleck, who got left off the list for the oscars but won last night for best director for "argo", which i thought was a great movie. jodie foster receive ad lifetime achievement award, that will make you feel old, right. jodie foster during a seven minute speech she hinted
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about retiring talking about leaving acting for good. she broach ad lot of personal topics. she has been a private person a lot of focus on her sexuality, all of that came into the mix during her comments last night. >> i will never be up on the stage again, on any stage, for that matter. change, got to love it. i will continue to tell stories, to move people, being moved, the greatest job in the world. it just from now on i may be holding a different talking stick and, maybe it won't be as sparkly. maybe won't open on 3,000 screens. maybe it will be so quiet and dell catt -- delicate that only dogs can hear it whistle. martha: backstage foster refused to clarify her remarks. the speech spoke for itself. a lot of people thought it was rambling. i thought she was very nervous in the beginning. i felt like she was very grounded. i thought she connected with everybody in the audience when she started to talk
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about her mother. she was a child star. she has a great relationship with her mom, who really helped shepherd her through all those years. i thought it was beautiful speech. i know a lot of people --. bill: lifetime achievement award. she was in the spotlight at age of three. martha: 47 years in the spotlight for jodie foster. we wish her well. slide show of best and worst-dressed go to our website at foxnews.com. all the beautiful dresses are there in all their glory. i thought kate hudson looked particularly beautiful. golden globes fashion. click think all of them. send me a tweet @marthamaccallum. what was your favorite? bill: last night? martha: yeah. bill: probably j.lo. i mean, it fit her well. i can say that, right, and get away with it. martha: she never wears baggie clothes. put it that way. bill: president obama gives his last news conference of the first term. brit hume on what you can
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expect. the questions and answers. both will be intriguing. martha: brit has comments on last night's gowns as well. gun control a big topic in the news conference coming up about an hour away
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martha: fox news alert. there is a live shot on this monday morning at the white house. that is where president obama will hold an unexpected news conference this morning, which we just learned about a little while ago. that will happen at 11:15 eastern. it will be the last news conference of the first term. and the first since he won re-election. we'll bring it to you live as soon as it gets underway. brit hume will join us shortly on what we can expect from the president this morning. no doubt we will hear about this as well the debate over new gun laws sending gun sales surging across the country. here is a look at the long line at a gun show, and guess writ is? just outside of san francisco. hardly hard-core gun country. lines stretching around the block, people eager to get
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inside that gun show. brand-new hour starts now of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning at home. that is a sight you do not expect to see. what we are seeing in san francisco is happening in many parts of the country, gun stores so busy they are finding it hard to stock shelves and reporting record sales as folks fear that new restrictions on guns and ammunition. they are scooping up what they can. >> is ammo hard to come by? >> oh, yeah, yeah,. >> why do you think that is? >> everybody is afraid that they will ban it. >> do you think people are worried that their rights will be taken away and the only people that will have guns is ones that are getting them illegally. >> that is why the gun show is so big, it's because of more laws and more laws. martha: william la jeunesse from los angeles on that. good morning. >> reporter: people are stockpiling ammunition and buying what they fear washington
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will ban. most buyers do not go through a criminal background check. in calif do. that didn't stop shoppers from flooding a gun show in the bay area. >> i'm not super progun but i still felt like i wanted to get one before they are illegal to get. >> basically that is the feeling everyone hafplts you bette everyone has. >> a buying frenzy is driving prices throughout work. >> they have to get in there and get what they can. >> reporter: many left empty handed. >> ammunition, you can't find it. >> reporter: december gun sales jumped 58%. >> i think that now that obama doesn't need to get reelected that he is going to go for the guns. >> reporter: that fear is why ammunition i prices have doubled. assault rifles now fetch 1200. high capacity magazines are sold out across the country. >> i think they will ban mags and stop you from being able to buy the hunting rifles.
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then it will be your pistols, your .38s, little things grandmas run around the streets with. >> i do not answer my door after 8:00 at night without a gun in my hand. >> reporter: california bans magazines over ten rounds and requires a ten-day waiting period. it requires universal criminal background checks, including buyers at gun shows. >> people have become used to it and they recognize that that is the way it is, and they know that when they come to a gun show they've got to abide by the same laws as they would if they went to a store. >> reporter: the golden state may vote blue but some are seeing red as washington's effort to stop crime stops them. >> they are not taking my guns away, because they might as well, because i can't find ammunition. >> reporter: the vice president is expected to recommend a ban on assault weapons, high capacity magazines. 2% of crimes are committed with salt weapons. most murders are committed with less than 3 bullets, and less
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than 1% of crime guns come from gun shows. back to you. martha: thank you, william. bill: also big crowds turning out for the ohio gun and knife military show over the weekend. thousands heading to the county fairgrounds, west of cleveland wanting to buy high powered rifles, assault weapons as well as ammunition there. >> it's how you're raised. i believe that you're brought up to to right and wrong. some type of christian upbringing of right and wrong you're not going to commit those crimes. >> they show on video games you get shot five, six times with an ak-47 and you keep right on going. but in real life that is not true. bill: many of the vendors more than tripled their prices but that did not slow down sales we are told in northern, ohio. martha: we don't have exact numbers on recent gun sales we do know this. background checks for gun purchases spiking nationwide to a record 2.8 million last month, that is 50% higher than the
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previous month, and december was already a month of record sales, and for the year 2012 saw 19.5 million background checks for firearms. that is a new year le lee record. we can expect to see vice president biden's recommendations on gun concerns, that comes out tomorrow. and big concerns what gun advocates are having ahead of the announcement. bill: the u.s. is now helping france battle islamist militants in the west african country of mali. the u.s. is providing communications help and transportation for military personnel, fighting to take back full control of the country. at the 1 ao 3 at the map behind us we can show you the location from mali. this has been a topic of discussion for some time now when it comes to islamists and powers and the future government of egypt. we've talked quite a bit about
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libya over the past two years, since gadhafi was thrown out of power, also as it relates to benghazi. this country here has started to pop up. for about ten years islamists have been working in mali mostly in the northern part of the country. and if you were to get some sort of u.s. help assisting the french we believe it would take place in the northern part of this country where just about a year ago islamists seized control of this half. greg palkot is live on the story out of london to bring us a bit more on what is happening there. what can we report on the ground. >> reporter: bill, it is being described as a new front in the war on terror. it has to do with the militant organization called the al-qaida and the islamic malgrab. that organization is active across much of northern africa. u.s. militaryee figureses we have spoken to call it the best funded, the most dangerous
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chapter of the terror organization. last year as you noted rebels associated with that group occupied the northern half of mali. they imposed sha relaw there. when they started making moves south last week that is when france moved. they sent in over 500 ground troops and they staged and are staging air strikes with fighter jets and attack helicopters in the north and in the central area there. one french pilot is said to have been killed but there is said to be also dozens of deaths, casualties on the other side. france right now, bill is claiming they have blunted the rebel move to the south inside that country of mali but there are new reports of counter attacks, bill. bill: to what extent would the u.s. get involved? what have you heard, greg? what are the possibilities. >> reporter: very flatly the us has a big stake in this fight. for example, the militants who attack the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya last september leaving four americans dead,
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including the ambassador to libya are said to have at the very least communicated with or have had support from this al-qaida in the islamic magrab. even before the attack u.s. i have heard have big concerns about the spread of terror from this tkpwraoufplt they have been training up local troops. there have been reports of special forces on the ground even in the country of mali. the u.s. has been behind a u.n. plan that has moving in the past couple of months to get both the west and african troops involved. now france has moved, the uk is support -lg this. we are still waiting officially from washington whether they will will agree to these requests from transfor logistical support. the feeling is, yes we want to help 4, but what i'm hearing from u.s. officials there are still a lot of concerns, a lot of worries about this operation. back to you. bill: greg, thank you. greg palkot in london. martha: how did we get to this point? it all started back in march of 2012 when islamic fanatics seized northern mali after a
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military cue. they are the best funded and wealthist partner. the group is responsible for fighting that has forced 400,000 people from their homes. bill: today marks two years, believe it or not, two years since the first uprising of the so-called arab spring. the events in tw tunisia. opposition groups over through four governments. tunisia, egypt, libya and yemen. of course heavy fighting and bloodshed continues in the country of syria to this day. martha: meanwhile a major decision about the fate of u.s. troop levels in afghanistan. president hamid karzai saying this a group of elders are now deciding whether u.s. troops staying past the 2014 withdrawal deadline would be immune from prosecution under afghan law. this was one of the major issues in iraq and why we pulled out
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completely. the u.s. has repeat lead said that every member of its armed forces should only be subject to u.s. laws. the u.s. was forced to completely withdraw from iraq based on a similar request denied by that government. so this is very important. bill: new reaction out of president obama's nomination of chuck hagel as defense secretary. they called the senator superb lee qualified for this job. >> he is a solid guy who speaks his phaoeufpbltd he's a good supporter of israel and he's been there, the record will show that. but he's not reluctant to disagree. i think he will do a great job as secretary of defense. >> let me say this. i'm very troubled. i think that the hearings on this nomination are going to be consequential. i have not made up my mind, but here is where we are. you've put up his prior positions. it makes me wonder, it perplexess me why the president
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nominated senator hagel. >> that was kelly ayotte a republican from new hampshire showing her displeasure with the pick. no doubt hagel will face questions on his views on iran and israel during those hearings. martha: fox news alert for you now, president obama about to hold the last news conference of his first term. we just heard this about an hour ago. senior political analyst brit hume on the high stakes for the president in this conference and for republicans of course over the next four years. bill: a follow-up on a story we talked about the key development in a massive salary scandal where the city manager was raking in $800,000 a year and those folks right there were not happy about it. martha: an a ray than sunshine amid disaster. what these firefighters saved in a church fire that is giving a community so much hope. >> people rally in moments like this. there is an energy that comes, there is a unity that comes that sometimes doesn't exist except
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bill: back to a story we covered quite a bit about a year ago. a group much california city officials involved in a massive salary scandal. they will stand trial. [khapbgt [chanting] >> remember those scenes from bell city, california. emotions running high. jury selection begins tomorrow. they are accused of looting the city's treasury, and raising taxes to write themselves a bigger paycheck. all six pleading not guilty. martha: the vice president is set to meet with lawmakers in a couple of minutes, and then he is ready to give president obama his recommendations on gun control legislation. gun rights advocates say that the obama administration is looking to attack the second
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amendment they believe. but reverend jesse jackson told me moments ago that gun owners need to compromise. here he is now from our show just a little while ago, watch. >> you want guns to hunt with and it's registered you got that. a gun to protect your house, you got that. our more likely to end up shooting a relative and suicide than a roche. but guns for your house, you got that. these semi-automatic weapons, these assault weapons can only kill people and in fact they are threats to national security. martha: eric pratt is the director of communications at gun owners of america. eric, welcome. good to that you here this morning. >> thank you, martha, thank you for having me. martha: what is your response to what reverend jackson had to say there. >> would i tell him you don't compromise with god-given rights. americans in these countries use guns at a minimum of 4,000 times a day in self-defense, and that is according to clinton justice department figures. now we have the white house trying to insert itself and tell
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americans what they can use, what they need, or what they don't need, and we would say, mr. president, we have a bill of rights, not a bill of needs. and we especially find it offensive that it's the same administration which oversaw gun running, which approved the sales of thousands of firearms into criminal hands, which went south of the border through fast and furious, those guns resulted in killing hundreds of mexican citizens and one of our own border agents, so now we have the administration, which approved those sales into illegal hands now turning around and telling the american citizen, oh, byes way, we are not going to let you buy these types of firearms, that's just wrong. martha: understood. obviously both sides feel very strongly about this. i think everyone recognizes we won't even be having this conversation right now if it weren't for what happened in newtown. it seemed to turn a koerpbgs even after aurora we did not have the outrage we saw after
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newtown. i've seen a lot of polls that say that many americans, the majority of americans in fact believe that there is nothing wrong with clamping down and banning assault weapons, that there is no legitimate need for an individual to own an assault weapon. what do you say to that? >> again, i would say it gets very dangerous when we start saying, here is what you need or don't need. we have a bill of rights, not a bill of needs. martha: why does someone need an assault weapon, though? >> how about the korean merchants during the los angeles riots who defended their stores and they remained standing while others around them burned to the ground. they used these types of firearms. fox news last week was reporting on that georgia woman who shot that guy who broke into her home. she was defending her twins. he came and attacked them. she had a 6-shot revolver, she shot and hit him five times. that still didn't kill him. she hit him five times in the head and in the neck, he was still able to get up, go out of the house and drive away.
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just imagine if she was facing multiple attackers. it underscores the fact why -- there may be situations where americans are going to need more than just a six-shooter especially when you're facing drug induced individuals who are resistant to pain or multiple attackers. martha: what do you think we are going to hear? the word was late last week that the white house felt that they would not be able to pass any court of assault weapons ban in congress and that they were going to back off that. and authenticate next thing that was trickling out on this was that yes, they would go forward and try to press for the assault weapons ban, the multiple clips ban as part of this legislation proposal that we're going to hear tomorrow. what are you folks expecting? >> well i tell you what we're expecting that probably won't happen, what they are not going to be talking about is talking about allowing what utah has done and certain other parts of the country where teachers and principals are able to own firearms. we need to close the school zone loop home.
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because americans can carry arms virtually everywhere around the country, except in school zones, they fear prosecution. as a result, congress passed this guns free school zone law, isn't it interesting these have become the magazin magazine tphepbts where criminals and terrorist want to mak themselves. they don't go to a gun store, they go where they will be the only one with a firearm. that's what's made our schools so dangerous. i think we should do what israel did. after a massacre of the children in the 70s, they started arming teachers. they have not had a successful attack against school children since then. martha: it's interesting to note that a third of schools according to our reporting already have an armed guard on the school campus, which has not really been met with the uproar that we've heard in the recent discussion about it. eric thank you so much for sharing with us today. very good to have you with us. >> thank you. bill: in about 55 minutes the
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president will talk. we'll have that live for you. united airlines accused of trying to dodge millions in taxes. it's how they did it that is raising a lot of eyebrows, we'll explain. martha: a school teacher, listen to this. suing because she has a phobia of children. interesting career choice you might say. can't make this up, folks. our legal panel joins us coming up. ÷÷ for over 60,000 california foster children,
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i just wanna feel normal. to help, sleep train is collecting pajamas for foster children, big and small. bring your gift to any sleep train, and help make a foster child's night a little cozier. not everyone can be a foster parent, but anyone can help a foster child. martha: what a weekend for football. there were four games. a lot of drama out there from sunday. the patriots were very
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impressive. tom brady, wow did he put on a show. beautiful connections all across that field to make a very impressive game for the patriots. they beat the text ands, 41-28. they got hammered. next up baltimore play at new england on sunday. that is a repeat of last year's championship game. the winner will go to the super bowl. there is tom with his little knit hat on. what a dramatic finish we saw in atlanta as well. the falcons kicked a field goal with 8 seconds remaining, they defeated the seahawks 38 to 28. they squandered a 28-point lead to see seattle really make a big run at it. the tpal cans were victorious. the 49ers meet th meet the packers in the other game next sunday. bill: they were great football games showing the rest of america that that truly is america's past type.
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it really is america's sport. baseball can take a back seat at lease this time of year. martha: you get no argument from me on that. bill: united airlines accused of running a sham office to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes to the city of chicago. what does the airline say about that? rick leventhal here to explain. >> reporter: it is kind of strange. we've all heard about individuals and corporations basing officers and accounts offshore or overseas to avoid paying taxes. in this case it's a dispute over the 69 miles over chicago ancic a more, illinois. according to the regional transportation authority united airlines has been operating a sham office for the past 12 years to avoid paying a fortune in taxes. the airlines buys hundreds of millions of dollars of fuel for its jets at o'hare airport. united aviation fuels corp a subject sid air reef the airline opened a small office in sycamore with no computer and
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one part time employee, then struck a kick-back deal with the town paying a few hundred grand instead of tens of millions according to the draft of the lawsuit obtained by the "associated press," quote, the only reason that united fuels has an office in sycamore is to attempt to create a sham tax location for fuel sales and a lower taxing jurisdiction. in a statement united airlines says, quote, we have not received a copy of the complaint but we believe that any such suit would be without merit, the operation of our fuel subsidiary in sycamore has been examined by tax authorities in the past and has been determined to apply with all applicable laws. we will vigorously defend ourselves against any such claims. in most states sales taxes are collected where products are received but under illinois law they should be collected where the purchase is accepted. bill: there are accusations against american airlines. what is happening there. >> reporter: american has a similar office in sycamore city
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hall and has shaved millions off its tax bill. since it is currently in bankruptcy it would require litigating this case in federal bankruptcy court as well as cook county. they say they will pursue action when they are out of bankruptcy. the suit against united was filed this morning. bill: martha what is next. martha: president obama is about to step into the news conference room, the press woman at the white house. he'll talk to reporters in the next hour. we'll talk to brit hume about what the president is planning for his second term and how republicans will respond. mr. brit hume in the house next, folks. we'll be right back. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals.
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bill: 32 past. fox news alert you will see the president in a matter of 40 minutes, the last of his first term east gets ready to take the oath of office for a second time in a press conference from the east room of the white house. brit hume a fox political analyst a bit of a preview. we look at the next four years and peel the curtain back. how are you doing. >> reporter: fine, bill. bill: we led the program with stephen haces with the push on immigration. how do you see that being framed by this president starting today, and what does that mean for the other side, the republicans do you believe? >> reporter: he's put it very high on his agenda. indeed he has indicated it is his first priority, which is interesting in light of a lot of
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people expected his first priority and continuing priority to be the economy. the word now we have from news reports out this morning is that he's going to go for a great big all in one immigration bill, he and the democrats in the senate and a few republicans are said to be working on this. rather than trying to do it piecemeal. well doing it piecemeal has the advantage that it might be easier to pass piecemeal. but it seems that the president is at least as interested in setting traps for republicans, particularly house republicans, as he is in getting a bill passed. the reason being of course that the hispanic vote was so important to his coalition in the election last fall, and the republicans don't stand well with hispanics, so if you get a great big sort of hard to digest bill, that the hispanics will like, but republicans may resist, and if it doesn't pass then he wins either way, he wins if it passes, big achievement and if it doesn't pass because
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republicans won't vote for in it the house then he can win that way too because it gives the party a big issue to take to the republicans and take to the country in the upcoming midterm election, which i think he has his eye firmly fixed on already. bill: 70% of the vote hispanics over mitt romney in early november. >> reporter: right, right. bill: i remember what the house speaker told me before the vote in november. he said if we do immigration, whether it's a republican in the white house or democrat in the white house you better make sure the republicans are going to have the fingerprints all over that law. can they, or how do they? >> reporter: well, the truth is that this is an issue that is divided republicans. you may recall george w. bush wanted to pass a comprehensive immigration bill an had significant republican support for it, but not enough, because it got labeled amnesty, it woke up part of the base that is concerned about that, and he couldn't get it done. now, it remains to be seen if republicans have got even
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softened up on this issue by the results of the 2012 election. one imagines to some extent they have. whether it will be enough to pass it through the house of representatives -- i think john boehner would be reluctant having brought up a bill that didn't have a majority of his caucus behind it in the recent struggle over the fiscal cliff, he would be i would expect hesitant to do that again. so -- and it would be hard i suspect to round up enough republican votes so you'd have a majority of them in addition to whatever democratic support you'd have. you might be able to work it out. you can see how the president can win anyway. bill: laying those traps, in your first answer. >> reporter: he seems to like that. bill: gun control will come up, certainly. the implementation of obamacare will come up, perhaps. the debt ceiling and the battle over that that will play out over the next 60 days. it strikes me that if you do not put the economy on a firmer
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foundation none of this means anything, does it. >> reporter: you know, bill, you would think so. i think that one of the things that's happened here is because the economy did not really recover in the way we accustomed to before the 2012 election one imagined that president obama would be in all sorts of political trouble and a likely looser. a lot of us thought that, including me. well he won. this president may now have the view that he can defy political gravity and if the economy doesn't get a lot bet and it limps along at its anemic rate of growth his party can survive all that and he can go forward with an aggressive a skwrepbd today, he really does have a bigger mandate than you would think looking at the vote totals that he has, he has the republicans on defense and it's time to go for it, and if they buck him they will be the ones that pay the price in the mid-term elections in two years putting him in an even stronger position.
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that seems to be the outlook from the white house. i don't think anybody can defy gravity of any kind for very long, including political gravity. bill: what do you believe at the outset of another four years, with the knowledge that you have a mid-term vote 24 months away, or less than that now. what is the strongest hand the republicans can play, as a counter balance there in washington? >> reporter: well, the republicans -- they are pledged to try to do something about spending. that is something they are going to have to face up to whether that is the issue they are strongest on or not, they have to do this. their constituents expect it, broadly speaking it's popular in the country. the president does not seem to be nearly as interested as once he may have in reforming entitlement programs which is where all the big money is and will have to be done eventually or this whole entitlement wave will inch gulf us all.
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they have points of leverage, the debt ceiling is one, i'm not sure how good it is. they have the fact that we have a spending -- they need a big appropriations bill to keep the government-funded. they have that coming up. they have the expiration of the delay of the so-called sequester which imposes draconian spending cuts across the board in a rather haphazard way, they have points of leverage. the question is whether the president will be willing to give on the things that really matter in terms of spend nothing order to get deals to get any of those things done. bill: there is no indication of that, though, is there. >> reporter: i would say so far a hard task and that's why the ahead of them, even though they would appear to have some leverage on these very matters. this is going to be bloody, bill and it isn't going to be pretty and nobody is going to look at it and say, my, what a good job they are doing in washington regardless almost of the outcome. bill: thank you. >> reporter: you bet. bill: good to have you. thanks. >> reporter: my pleasure. martha: as the president prepares for inauguration day
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there's already growing controversy over the money that is being raised to help pay for the event. get ready to hear words like this inauguration brought to you by microsoft. that would be weird, right? chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live in washington. are we going to hear that? >> reporter: probably unlikely, when you watch the upcoming inaugural events they will be brought to you by at&t and microsoft and a handful of corporate donors, a big shift from 2009 when they did not accept corporate one. at&t has received $182 million in federal contracts. microsoft has $1.46 million. critics say this does not pass the smell test. >> this down is dysfunctional, there is too much money sloshing around and this brings around, really, really corruption. what if a company is bidding for a contract, then they give money and then their washington rep
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shows up at the event and reminds them. it's a bad idea. >> reporter: congressman wolf says it should be against the law for corporations to give to anybody's inauguration, martha. martha: is there a conflict of interest? what about the inaugural committee, what are they saying about this? and what are the supporters of the president saying about this. mike. >> reporter: they note this was the most expensive presidential campaign in history, their goal is to make sure they meet the fundraising requirements. supporters of the president say, look at his policies and who he is trying to help. >> that's why i don't worry about the president's excess, talking to donors, or corporate lobbyists, because on the i shall use of the fiscal cliff and whether our budget is phares been fighting very hard to insure that it's the public's voice, the middle class voice that's the strongest at the table. >> reporter: the inaugural committee says it will not accept money from foreign nationals or foreign
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corporations, martha. martha: all right, that may be a comfort. thank you very much. fox news of course will have complete coverage of the president's inauguration. "america's newsroom," me and bill will be live from lafayette park on monday morning and bret baier and megyn kelly will bring us the action starting at 11:00am eastern time. bill: you never forget inauguration, whether the weather is good ear whether the weather is soggy, we've had a little bit of both over the years. watch him come up pennsylvania afternoon and we'll have it for. martha: praying for lovely, beautiful washington d.c. weather. bill: how about a teacher afraid of children? she says she's got a raw deal because of her child tpoeb bee a. the lawsuit that is actually happening. martha: can you believe that? that is a weird one. and coca-cola with appointed message to their critics. the soft drink company firing
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bill: a little bit of controversy served up by coke coal louisiana. starting today the soft drink giant begins two-minute commercials. they make the point that weight gain is the result of consuming too many calories of any kind of soda. or of anything, rather. not just soda. martha: how about this story. a long-time high school teacher is suing her ohio district because she has a quote, extreme fear of young children. so an interesting career choice you may say, right? she suffers from a disability called pedaphobia, and her
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district was discriminating against her when they reassigned her to the junior high and pressured her to resign. tamara holder is a tox news legal analyst. tina sullivan is a defense attorney. welcome. good to have both of you here. first of all the doctors quoted in these stories says it's a real thing, fear of young children. it would seem unusual that you would choose teaching as a profession if you had a fear of any age children, does it not, tamara. >> of course it does. in her defense, even though i'm going to defense the school here, in her defense she did disclose this in the very beginning and the school did make assurances that they wouldn't expose her to young children. there was nothing this her contract that says they wouldn't move her around between high school and middle school. we are talking about a couple of years of difference here. and they didn't do anything to break the terms of their -- of her union contract and she still would be there had she not
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chosen to quit. so i don't see what the problem is. martha: i have a fear of middle school students. i have two of them living in my house, they are terrifying, so i totally understand. keith, there is a little history here as there always is. the high school started to go online and do some of their french teaching language teaching online. she was unhappy about that. she talked to parents about that unhappiness and she got in some trouble. she was republican pre mannedded. then she moved her to the middle school. she's been teaching in the middle school, she says her blood pressure is increasing and she doesn't feel well, and now she is suing, what say you? >> first, let me say i wish my parents allowed me to develop a phobia of my french teacher when i was back in school. things would have been a lot easier for me. once we get back the punch lines and late-night comedy this is a legitimate lawsuit. it's a recorded medical ailment. it's been around since 1975 is the first medical literature on
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it. a book was written about it in 2005. her issue is with the younger-aged kids. she put the school on notice 15 years ago that this was a problem. she's had two doctors diagnosis her with this. they were on notice. this was retaliation. her classes were going to go online. she had made complaint to the parents, telling them go speak to the principal, go speak to the superintendent. they came and spoke to her and said you're out of line you shouldn't have done that. then the transfer took place. this is a woman who has a disability, a classic failure to make a reasonable accommodation for someone who has an ailment. when she got there she did an exemplary job once she was there by aublgts. martha: tamara you're sticking up for the school here. what will be your defense. >> i think keith made their defense. they already disclose towed her before she got in trouble that they were getting rid of this program and putting it online. it wasn't as if they were doing that to retaliate against her. they said look we're making
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changes based on our curriculum needs and student needs and here is what it is. this is not a woman who gets to decide where she's going to go and what classes she is going to teach. and they did accommodate her by moving her to a couple of years younger, a similar kind of program. it's not like they said, now you have to go work with preschool-aged kids. we are talking about a couple of years, they accommodated her, and she chose to quit. and like keith said she did an exemplary job. so her high blood pressure may be because of her weight. i mean, just because she has -- she is a big woman and has high blood pressure doesn't mean it's related to their discrimination. martha: the world turns. we will follow this. we'll let you know how it turns out. thank you, tamara. thank you, keith. french teachers and middle school students can be pretty scary. bill: i'll defend your children anyway jon scott is coming up.
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jon: we are awaiting the final news conference of president obama's first term. we will have that live plus instant analysis from bret baier. fox news is watching a developing story that fox has been all over. local newspapers publishing names and addresses of gun owners. there has been a burglary at one of the homes. the newspaper is facing criticism. can you guess what the most expensive zip code in the nation is. and why more and more high-end homes are being sold to foreign buyers. that is all coming up on happening now. bill: up for a challenge are you? how about the hunt is on for pythons. wait until you hear what you get if you win. martha: we don't like snake stories. bill: look at that. [ woman ] if you have the audacity to believe
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folks. snake hunting time in the everglades. florida holding its first ever burmese python challenge trying to reduce the snake population in southern florida. fearless phil keating is on the hunt in the everglades. how many were caught already? >> so far the pythons have the edge. nothing caught and captured and killed on saturday. reportedly late last night some brothers actually captured three pythons but nothing official yet from florida fish and wildlife which is trying to and succeeding at getting massive
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publicity on this python challenge, the month-long event. people from as far away, and these are amateur hunters, as far away as san francisco participating in this event. all day saturday and sunday these hunters dressed in camouflage and a whole lot of weapons went out looking for python. >> shotgun here 12-gauge. i've got a ma chet thee and a 25 caliber sidearm. chris? >> i have the gts. >> and tommy, well he's got the speed if we need it. >> good luck. >> yeah. >> we went off in the back woods of the ever grades where there is not much but wildlife. we did see some snakes trails but we did not actually see a python event. now there are more than 800 python hunters who have registered with the state. you get $1,500 at the end of this month-long event for whomever catches the most, and the longest snake will get you a
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prize of a thousand dollars. bill. bill: and the previous stories you've done with machete over your shoulder, you have taught us that there are owners of pythons that get rid of the burmese in the everglades. phil thank you. phil keating in southern florida. remember what we saw last weak on the quantas plane flying out of central r-r? i thin australia. i think that was an owner trying to get rid of a snake. martha: there it is. about 30 minutes from now president obama will hold what is likely to be the last news conference of his first term. we will carry that live for you of course. kao*efp it right here. we wilkeep it right here, we will be right back.
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